Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) Lifted to “Neutral” at Northcoast Research

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Northcoast Research from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Badger Meter from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Badger Meter from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.50.

Badger Meter Stock Up 13.1 %

Shares of Badger Meter stock traded up $19.98 on Thursday, reaching $172.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 251,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 173,727. The company has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.68, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.86. Badger Meter has a 52-week low of $119.02 and a 52-week high of $174.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $156.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.37.

Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 19.07% and a net margin of 13.16%. The firm had revenue of $182.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Badger Meter will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Badger Meter news, VP Fred J. Begale sold 1,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.92, for a total transaction of $195,992.76. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,328.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Badger Meter news, VP William R. A. Bergum sold 1,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.23, for a total transaction of $221,221.68. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,096,919.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Fred J. Begale sold 1,203 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.92, for a total value of $195,992.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,328.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,813 shares of company stock valued at $448,167. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Badger Meter by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,991,278 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $497,681,000 after buying an additional 28,050 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,651,786 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $563,726,000 after buying an additional 37,517 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,097,093 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $193,750,000 after buying an additional 26,896 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,024,305 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $147,367,000 after buying an additional 80,979 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Badger Meter by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 591,793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,092,000 after buying an additional 9,207 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.01% of the company’s stock.

About Badger Meter

Badger Meter, Inc manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions worldwide. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities market. The company also provides flow instrumentation products, including meters, valves, and other sensing instruments to measure and control fluids going through a pipe or pipeline, including water, air, steam, and other liquids and gases to original equipment manufacturers as the primary flow measurement device within a product or system, as well as through manufacturers' representatives.